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Stalybridge Celtic 3 County 2 ( Conference North) 25 August 2014

Well..............the
bacon roll was excellent, but not a lot else...............oh
....alright....I`ll admit that County made a decent fight of it in the second
half against Stalybridge Celtic,and definitely deserved at least a point in the end, but by the break they were already 3 goals
down, and the game was all but out of sight for them, a situation brought about
by 3 defensive lapses, two of them within a minute of each other almost on half
time.

It was so...so...sad,
because almost 1500 supporters had made the short trip from Stockport with high
hopes of witnessing something special after 2 wins in 2. It was not to be
however, and despite a spirited come back late-on, and two top draw goals, it
was 3-2 to Celtic at the end of a game that was for much of it, not that great
to watch, the ball being lofted into the veritable maelstrom above Bower Fold
time and time again.

Milligan gets forward.

If County had an excuse,
it was that Tunji Moses was missing from their list of available players, thus
the `5 at the back plus 2’ model was ,by necessity up for change, and so it was
that AL opted to bring Nathan Woolfe in, as the only change from Saturday. In
the event this never worked and County missed Moses`s presence noticeably,
getting drawn into unnecessary flair- ups.....and being punished for lapses in
concentration that I thought that they had ironed out of their game.

Lewis King, another keeper on fire against us!

For Stalybridge there was
another cluster of ex Hatters on view. One of them....goal keeper Lewis King ,was
the other reason that County lost, as a string of fine saves from him dampened
the blues ardour just when they looked to be revving up for a grandstand
finish. Paul Ennis was another, and he scored one.....Liam Dickinson did not
score but put himself about more than somewhatdrawing some ripe abuse at times from the County faithful for his
efforts. Matty Mainwaring, the fourth ex blue, was largely anonymous.

There were several players
on both sides booked, and one.....County captain Jamie Milligan got himself
sent off via a second yellow, that I thought was more than a touch harsh.

Lewis King got a good
reception from the away end ( I say away end, but with County supporters
populating ¾ of the stadium, and providing roughly 80-85% of the gate this term
is hardly applicable), but the start was delayed whilst repairs were effected
to the nets at King`s end.

Belezika on the ball !

County looked lively in
the opening minutes with Spencer looking particularly so, but their opening
salvo petered out when Belezika was adjudged to have fouled his man en-route to
goal. Woolfe thensent Ryan clear ,only
for Kelvin Bleau( possibly Celtics top man after King)totrack back and cut him off. It continued in
this vein with Spencer and Woolfe in the van, but the first 5 minutes ended
with play switching ends, and Hurst coming out bravely to rob Aidan Chippendale
as he surged clear.

Spencer and Truelove.......

This seemed to gee Celtic
up, and within another minute a cross from McKenna saw Chippendale shoot wide
under pressure from Duxbury.

Eventually.....County
regained the initiative, through Spencer, who was twiceblocked trying to force his way through down
the right. He wasn`t done however, and came back for more, taking the ball past
2 men, before slipping a beaut of a ball inside to Woolfe who looked well set.
Credit to Woolfe he did get his shot off, but credit to Matt Regan too, and he
managed to get a touch and deflect the ball behind for a corner, which almost
inevitably was best forgotten.

A minute later and the
action swung to the other end where Hurst got himself momentarily in a tangle,
which required urgent remedial action from Belezika to put right- he obliged
with a crucial clearance off the line and it stayed 0-0.

Danny Hurst .

There was work for Gregson
to do ( twice) after this and he was nicely cool about it, and Spencer thought
he had at last worked himself an opening down the right, only for the ref to
indicate “ elbow” at just about the same time as I thought “baloney”

So far so good, but the 21st
gave us a small warning, as a chance beckoned for Paul Ennis asthe ball came his way from the right, where
Bleau had been allowed to get a cross over. In the event Ennis lifted his shot
over the bar, but we had been warned!

But.....the warning went
unheeded, and within a minute we were one down as another cross from the right
landed at the feet of Ben McKenna who wasted no time in despatching it goal
ward past Hurst`s dive!

The referee had a chat
with Gregson shortly after, for a tackle that left Sam Staunton-Turner picking
himself up off the deck, but there was no lecture moments after when Regan`s
foul on Spencer went totally un-punished( this pattern was ,sadly, to be
repeated throughout the match).

Play meandered on, with
not much of note happening, bar a shot from Duxbury, on 38 minutes, that took
an unfortunate deflection.

I had begun to settle for
0-1.......awaiting a second 45 with County going at it hammer and tongues
............. when it all went rather badly wrong, starting with Woolfe who
somehow managed to lose the ball to Chippendale on the edge of the box, and had
to watch as he fired it home with calm assurance.

That was the 41st
minute......another 60 seconds and County imploded again, this time via Lees, who
allowed Ennis to take the ball off him, and blast it home from way out!

That was not great from a
County view point, and boos sadly greeted the team as they made their way off
the field at the break.

O`Halloran marks Dicko`s card !

Dickinson was in lively
form when the game resumed, but within 5 minutes County had pulled one back,
and it was a nicely worked affair too.....the ball transferring quickly from
Milligan to Spencer who played it sideways for Ryan to send his second goal in
3 days past King!

It was 1-3 and things were
hinting at getting better, albeit that Belezika saw a header ushered out by
Regan. Then Belezika teased a corner out of the home side, only for this to be
wasted, whilst at the other end Dicko continued to ferret away for trifles,
which O`Halloran continued to deny him.

By the hour mark AL had
rung the changes, bringing Dennis and Sharp on in place of Woolfe and Belezika ,
which seemed to usher in a 4/2/4 shape for the blues, notionally.

If this signalled an
attacking intent, that was pretty much how it went, with a Duxbury rocket
thumping into the bar after he had been neatly set up by Sharp and
Spencer.........then another from Sharp likewise clipping the woodwork,with King hopelessly beaten!

That was very unlucky and
County piled forward in hot pursuit of that elusive second goal. Only for
Dennis`s pass to just elude the on-rushing Sharp.

Then O`Halloran, who was
coolness personified at the back, sallied up the park, picking Ryan out with a
lovely ball, only for the MS liner to raise his flag and dish us. O`Halloran
kept at it, and a neat one/ two with Sharp saw the latter in on goal and only
kept out bythe legs of the Celtic
keeper.

Another Milligan free kick just misses out!

It was pretty much one way
traffic now, and more so it seemed as a foul on Milligan teed him up for a free
kick which he sent heading for the top corner. It had goal written all over it,
but King chose not to read this, and his dive saw him tip the ball over the bar
in spectacular fashion.

This unfortunately was the
`handbags out’ cue, as King promptly refused to let County take the corner( or
mimed as such) whereupon just about everyone on the park barring Hurst joined a
right royal fracas , which ended with King and Sharp booked, and Gregson
missing out with a header from the long awaited corner.

County press......

We were into the last 15
minutes of normal time now, and still, despite all the pressure from County,
there was no sign of a second goal, and King made me wince again with another
gritty save to deny Sharp from converting a Milligan pass into a game changer.

It went on........ 79
minutes.....Dennis to Spencer who shot only for King to fling himself to his
left to grab the ball.....

.......and on.....80
minutes.....the ball flying from Sharp to Spencer and then on to Dennis, who
unleashed the fiercest of shots , that still didn`t square the circle as that
man King pulled off his best save to date to keep the shot out!

This was so....so
annoying, we had, had this lad on our books not long ago, and now he was
dishing us good and proper!

Rare...late flurry from Celtic.

The 81st minute
saw a rare interruption of the flow of play as Bleau and Ennisset Mainwaring up with a chance, but he
fluffed it ,lifting his shot over the bar.

Fouls by McKenna
meanwhile, whilst getting no reprimand from the referee, gave County a chance
to push Celtic back once more, but the closest they came was a header from
Gregson, and this didn`t require a save from the home keeper.

There were 6 minutes left
when Dennis saw a shot charged down by Regan, after Milligan had combined nicely
with Ryan, but another minute on from this and at last King was beaten. It was
a decent move too, and one put away brilliantly as Spencer tapped it to his
left for Dennis to bury a blistering drive into the net with King groping at
air impotently!

It was 2-3, but there were
only 2 minutes left, and we looked on in anguish to see Duxbury`s shot whiz in
across goal and go harmlessly out of play!

Then....a roar went up
from seven eighths of the crowd when 6 minutes added time was
announced.....surely that would be time enough for......

Well.....probably....but
Celtic had other ideas, and it must be said their time wasting lacked the
virtue of subtlety , instance McKenna`s unsanctioned foul on Lees that was
followed by an attempt by him to prevent Lees taking the free kick. This also
did not result in sanction, but it did seem to signal WW3 , as the handbags
were out again in front the main stand. Unfortunately many of those involved
came from the crowd as well, so once again the Club, who can ill afford it, and
have been warned previously about it will be punished, but will the individuals
care?

Danger threatens his team....Dicko goes down...time ebbs away......

Fracas
over....eventually......Baker and Milligan along with McKenna and Dicko booked
, the County free kick was cleared and Celtics tactic had paid off with time
ever closer to running out, and more so a minute or so after when Milligan
tried to tackle Mc Kenna....missed.....and got shown a second yellow....for
`intent’ presumably......hmmmm....very very subjective that to say the very
least!

The home specs by this
stage were on their feet imploring the referee to blow for time, and soon
enough they got their wish and the game was over and Celtic had won.

But for two lapses in
concentration, this game might easily have been won by County.....it wasn`t and
despite a string of saves by the Celtic keeper, there is not a lot of good in
too much naval gazing over the situation.

We need County to work on
it, and work hard next time out to put things right- the supporters will surely
respond well if they do!

Meanwhile there was a good
finish to the supporter/ team bit at the end as the latter came over at the
close and were applauded by the former! Good stuff ...let`s take it from there!

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